Variations on a Theme
by A Fire in the Attic
Summary: Erica has always had memorable birthdays.


Today is my birthday so I decided to write a bunch of moments in Erica's life that take place on her birthday. And then I decided to make it about my OT3 because nobody ever writes my OT3 (if you know a story with this relationship hook me up, seriously).

Although it's not really about my OT3 as much as it's about Erica so i guess there's that. One day I'll write this ship and it will be long and beautiful and in depth but that day is not today. (still emotional about erica's hand at the end of last night's episode tbh)

**Word Count**: 4189

**Ship**: Stiles/Derek/Erica and just Sterica at one point. Background Scallison.

* * *

**First**

The day she turned one, Erica had her first taste of sugar. Her father did everything he could to make her healthy, and so she'd been living on baby formula and vegetable baby food since she'd been born. Only recently had her father expanded to fruit baby food.

She has pictures of her face covered in chocolate cake while her tia sits next to her, laughing. There's one where her dad is helping her unwrap a present—a soft cloth doll that she had until she was seven.

There are no pictures of her mother.

* * *

**Sixth**

She doesn't realize that having a tia and a papa makes her different then her classmates until she invites three girls to her sixth birthday party.

"Where's your mom?" Jessica asks, bouncing up and down while she stares at the cake Tia made. "Did she make your cake?"

Erica shook her head and pulled Jessica out of the kitchen. "We're playing dress up," she said as they walked down the hall. "And I don't have a mama. I have a tia."

"What's a tia?" Elvie asks.

Erica pursed her lips. "Ummmm…" she'd never called Tia anything else.

"It means aunt," Tia said, poking her head in the room. "Are you girls having fun?"

"Yes," Erica answered dutifully, handing Jessica a purple dress her aunt had bought a few days ago.

"Everybody has a mom," Jessica said as she pulled the purple dress over her glittery shirt.

"Not me," Erica answered.

Jessica wouldn't believe her.

* * *

**Ninth**

The morning of her ninth birthday party, Erica had a seizure. It wasn't her first, but it was the first time it had kept her from doing something other than little league soccer. Her tia called the parents of the girls Erica had invited over and cancelled the party.

When Erica woke up in the hospital, she cried. "This is the worst birthday ever, Tia," she sobbed.

Her tia braided her hair while her dad rubbed her feet.

"We can reschedule the party," he told her.

"No," she said, still crying. "I don't want one any more. I don't want to have seizures and I don't want anything."

"Not even your presents?" Tia asked, shaking a box in front of Erica's face.

Erica sniffed and wiped her eyes. She shrugged.

"You don't know?" her dad teased.

Erica shook her head.

Tia dropped the box into Erica's lap and pulled her into a tight hug. "Little princess," she said. "I will not tell you that this is not hard, but you come from a long line of strong women, like me and your abuela, yes?"

Erica nodded, resting her head against Tia's shoulder.

"You are so brave," her dad says, tickling her feet until she smiles. "We will help you and always be there for you."

"It hurt, papa," she says, eyes welling up again. "I don't want to do it again."

"It might not happen again," Tia said gently. "The doctor said if you take your medication and try not to get too stressed, this might be the last time."

"Really?" Erica asked, looking at her hopefully.

"Yes," she said. "It will be okay."

"Okay," Erica said. She wasted no time in opening her present, which turned out to be a Teresa Barbie doll. "Looks like you, Tia," she said happily.

Her dad handed her a big box, and she opened it just as quickly. "Legos," she said happily.

"You could build a castle for Teresa," he suggested. "So she can be la reina."

"Or protect it from invaders," Tia said, smiling.

"Gracias," Erica said and hugged both of them.

Her dad kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she said. "And you, Tia!"

* * *

**Eleventh**

"What do you want to do for your birthday, hija?" Dad asks one night, brushing her hair.

"Nothing," Erica says, forcing herself to keep watching TV. If she hides her face like she wants to, she'll mess Dad up and he'll have to start over on her hair.

"Nothing? But your tia promised to come visit with your new tio," her dad said, fingers working gently to pull out a particularly difficult tangle of hair.

Erica huffed. "Everyone makes fun of me at school," she says. "Since the seizure."

"Ah," Dad says. "I see. Maybe we can just do something as a family, then?"

"Yeah," she says. "Let's do that."

* * *

**Fourteenth**

Erica doesn't have birthday parties any more, but some things, she suspects, will never change.

Her mom is living with them again and hovers constantly. "Did you take your medication? Have you finished your homework?" she asks, almost constantly, as though she can make up for the thirteen years she was gone.

Tia comes for Erica's birthday, just like she always has since marrying Tio Rick. "Madeline," she says, grabbing Erica's mother's shoulders. "Por favor, leave the kitchen."

Erica loves her tia more than she loves her mom most of the time. Tia has always been concerned, but she's also the one who introduced her to knitting when she had to quit soccer. Her mom takes things away without replacing them, but Tia never has.

Her mom leaves the room and hesitantly Erica approaches the counter, where Tia is pulling out all the ingredients she'll need to make a tres leches cake. She leans against the counter and smiles winningly. "I want to help make my cake this year, please."

Tia turns to look at her and raises an eyebrow. She prods her with a wooden spoon in the belly and asks, "Can you handle it?"

Erica laughs and darts away. "Si, yes. Please?"

Tia taps her chin with the end of the of spoon and says, "Okay, okay. Get the milk."

It's messy, but it's the best cake she's had all year, and that's only partly because she made it.

* * *

**Sixteenth**

When she turns sixteen, her dad asks if she wants to have a birthday party. "You could invite your new friends," he suggests.

Her mother is sitting on the other side of the couch and she nods emphatically. "We'd love to meet them. I'm sure your aunt would, too."

"You've met Isaac," Erica says, wrinkling her nose. There's also Boyd, but she's not sure how Boyd feels about her. They're either friends or allies, but either way, they aren't the kind of friends that bring each other home.

"Is it just Isaac?" her mother asks, raising an eyebrow.

Erica knows what she's thinking. That her new wardrobe isn't about power, that it's about having sex. That Erica is a slut.

Sometimes, she wishes she was a slut. That she'd seen more action than she really has, which of course…is the one time she made out with Derek. And got thrown to the ground. Really a great track record.

Anyway, she thinks…she thinks her mother is under the impression that Erica is whoring herself out, that she and Isaac are more than friends, but that Isaac isn't enough. That Erica needs more. When she's asking if it's just Isaac, she's not asking about friendship.

Erica looks at her dad pleadingly. "Papi," she says, switching to Spanish. "Yo no quiero hacer una fiesta." She thinks about tacking on something about her mother, but decides against it. She'll be upset enough that Erica is purposefully speaking in a language she doesn't understand.

Her father shoots her a slightly chiding look, because he knows why she said it in Spanish, but he's not too upset about it, obviously. He knows she's not having sex. He knows she's annoyed with her mother for not speaking their language.

(Not that Erica is as fluent as she could be. She speaks enough to survive in Mexico when they go to visit Abuela, but she can't write it well at all, and she still has to look words up. Then again, she has to do that in English, too.)

"Hija, you don't have to have a party," he says, shrugging. "Perhaps we can just have cake, and you can introduce Isaac to your tia another day. That way no one will feel pressured." He gives her mother a look when he says that.

"Gracias," she says. Then she kisses her father's cheek and leaves to go train with the pack. Her mother's eyes are dark when she glances back at her, but her father looks calm. He wants to know what's going on with her, but the two of them have always been honest with each other. He trusts her to tell him when she's ready.

She hopes one day she'll be able to tell him. Maybe Derek will okay it after things calm down with the Argents and the kanima.

* * *

**Seventeenth**

Erica is alone in Chicago when her seventeenth birthday rolls around. She doesn't even realize the date until she's Dumpster diving behind a pizza place and sees a newspaper for the day before.

She balls it up and throws it aside.

Later, she finds enough loose change to use a payphone, but then she has to find one. With the influx of cell phones, they've all but disappeared, and it takes her an hour to find one near a subway station.

She dial's her dad's cell phone number, crossing her fingers in hopes that it hasn't change.

"Hello?" he says when he picks up. He sounds tired.

"Papi?" she says, trembling. She's only ever called him that when she's been afraid.

There's a sound like he's choking on a sob. "Erica, hija, where are you?"

"Chicago," she says. "Can I come home?"

"Of course, of course, I'll…I'm coming. Where can I meet you?"

"I sleep in an alcove near 12th and main," she says.

Her father cries but promises to be there by noon the next day.

For the rest of her time on the phone she gives him a tearful apology for leaving, but she can't explain why she left (the alphas. It's always a werewolf thing, isn't it?) but she promises to tell him everything when they get home.

At least then, if he says she's an abomination, she can crawl back to Derek and beg for forgiveness.

The next day her father arrives at 1:30 in the afternoon in a yellow cab with a red velvet cupcake he must have bought in the airport. "I missed your birthday," he tells her.

She eats it through her tears and he holds her in the taxi the whole way to the airport. She keeps crying and apologizing. He keeps telling her it's okay, but she hears the fear and relief in his voice. She feels like scum, but he doesn't let her go.

(At home her mother screams at her until she's worn out with grief and the holds her close, like she's afraid Erica might get away again. She grounds Erica even as she kisses her nose.

Erica cries for her, too.

After her mother goes to bed, she tells her dad the truth about werewolves, because Derek can't possibly be more angry at her. She shifts when he doesn't believe it.

"But why?" he asks.

"Derek said no more seizures," she says quietly.

They both cry again. When she's showered and lying down in a bed she hasn't seen in nearly a year, she still can't stop crying, wondering where the water for all these tears came from.)

* * *

**Eighteenth**

Her relationship with the pack is still shaky at best, unless you ask Stiles, who upon her return immediately declared her his new bro, possibly just to irritate Scott, with whom he was currently not speaking. But because Scott-and-Stiles doesn't function very well when they're broken up, the two of them had made up within a week, and Isaac and Scott started hanging around Erica and Stiles, too.

So she has friends. They're just different than the ones she left…except Isaac.

Derek is warmer now than he was when she first came back, but usually she catches him eying her and Stiles with…something…in his eyes that makes her stomach clench. She can never tell if it's fear or hope.

She knows what she wants though, but she doesn't think either Stiles or Derek are willing to give it. They'd probably pick each other instead.

She pretends to be surprised when she goes to Derek's loft after school and Lydia has put together a party. There's a chocolate cake with purple icing in front of a banner that reads "Pack Love Erica."

She laughs and kisses Stiles' cheek when she sees it. "Perfect," she says, and he grins before sloppily kissing her back.

(Derek is watching them again.)

She opens all the presents from the pack—lipstick from Lydia and Allison, a gift card to TJ Maxx from Boyd, video games from Scott, the third season of Veronica Mars from Isaac, and a new leather jacket from Derek. The jacket actually makes her freeze when she sees it, because she knows what it means.

Erica looks up at Derek with her mouth hanging open. She doesn't care what she looks like, because…Derek is smiling at her, these small crinkles in the corners of his eyes.

She tugs the jacket on happily and, when everyone's attention is back on the gift pile, trying to pick one out for her to open, she whispers, "Thank you."

Derek pats her knee and drifts over to the pile to pick Lydia's off the top, settling the argument.

For once she feels settled, like maybe everyone thinks she's here to stay, not hovering in the doorway.

Stiles drives her home after the party.

"I noticed you didn't give me a gift," she says lightly.

He shrugs and glances at her from the corner of his eyes. "I was going to ask you what you wanted."

"You don't know me well enough to just get it?" she asks, tilting her head.

"See, I had this idea," he says slowly, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "That maybe you wanted…me."

She sucks in a breath. "I already confessed that," she says quietly. "Two years ago."

"A lot can change in two years," he says, not looking at her. "My feelings, for example. And if mine changed, why not yours?"

She grabs one of his hands, playing with his fingers for a minute before tugging the rest of him across the gear shift and kissing him softly.

His other hand ends up tangled in her hair, but she keeps a tight grip on his fingers in her lap. She can't let go. Won't.

When they part, she says, "You know, as my boyfriend, you have to figure out an even more elaborate gift."

"Do you realize how many gifts I bought Lydia over the years?" he asks, rolling his eyes. "I know how to buy presents. It's in your bedroom."

"Are you serious?" she demands. "How?"

He grins. "Yeah. And not telling."

She shoves him a little until he sits back in his own seat, kisses his finger tips, and says, "Bye."

Inside, her tia is waiting with her parents, and they have another party.

Her mother brushes her fingers through her hair and hugs her tightly. "Did I see you kiss a boy in the car?" she whispers theatrically in her ears. She's realized now exactly how little Erica had going on before leaving, though for several months, she thought Erica had left to have a baby and only come back when she'd finally found someone to take it in.

Her dad asks her how the pack is doing like it's a cute name they call themselves instead of a reality. Her mother still doesn't know, and as much as Erica has come to love her mother, she's not sure she'll ever get to that point with her. It's more likely with Tia, but still a scary prospect.

This year her tia made a lemon and blueberry cake that melts on her tongue. The icing is light and fluffy, and the entire experience makes her feel like she's eating clouds.

After dessert and presents (makeup from her mother, a cookbook from Tia, and a soft scarf from her father) she drifts up to her room.

While she was downstairs, Derek had hung up the "Pack love Erica" banner (she can smell him), and on her bed, there's a wrapped box with her name on it.

She grins and tears the paper off to reveal a brown cardboard box. For a second she hesitates, because Stiles has a vicious sense of humor that could definitely mean she has a box full of sick bees in front of her.

She crosses her fingers on one hand before tugging the flaps open.

It's not bees, but it is a card on top of a mirror with an ornate frame. It's gold and covered in shining pink lilies.

She smiles at herself and opens the card.

"I saw this and thought of you, 'cause you're kind of flashy but also the best at reflecting everyone's good qualities when they feel like shit. Shit. I shouldn't have sworn in a birthday card. NEVER MENTION THIS. Anyway, you also have no apparent physical flaws, so I'm sure you'll be happy when you look into this mirror! Stiles."

Stiles gives terrible gifts. It's pretty (and so is she; Stiles is 100% correct) but if it weren't for the card, she'd think he was calling her a narcissist.

She goes downstairs to get a hammer and a nail to hang it up, and the whole time, she can't stop smiling. She slips the card into her underwear drawer and falls asleep the happiest she's been in a while.

* * *

**Nineteen**

Somehow she ends up in a long distance relationship with Stiles. He goes to college and she's stuck in Beacon Hills, finishing high school.

Running away is the worst decision she's ever made.

She ends up spending a lot of time at Derek's loft, working on homework or just cuddling up with him.

"I feel withdrawal," she tells him when he keeps leaning away from her. She makes grabby hands at his withdrawing figure. "All my friends are gone, except for you."

"I'm not cuddling with you," he says.

"Why?" she whines.

"You have a boyfriend."

"He knows I'm a cuddly werewolf, Derek. Trust me," she says, inching closer.

"Nope."

"But it's my birthday," she says, pouting. "You have to be nice to me."

"Yeah, and Stiles is coming home to see you tonight," he says, rolling his eyes. "Cuddle with him."

"Why can't I cuddle with both of you?" she asks. "We could have a puppy pile."

"Dog jokes are beneath you," he says drily.

She pouts until he acquiesces by tugging her into a hug.

"Better?" he asks, raising a single eyebrow.

She rubs her face all over his neck until he tries to squirm away from her again. "Perfect."

* * *

**Twentieth**

"I want to go home for my birthday," she announces to Stiles, Scott, and Allison. The four of them are eating lunch together in the campus cafeteria. Scott and Stiles insist on continuing to eat there because they can get what normal people would eat as two meals for one meal point.

Allison is eating Scott's salad with a vague look of disgust, but she brightens when Erica suggests a trip to Beacon Hills. "We should get the whole pack back together. I mean, Lydia and Jackson probably won't be able to make it, but I'm sure Boyd and Isaac could."

"Isaac wanted to visit Derek anyway," Scott says through a bite of mashed potatoes.

"My Jeep is in the shop, but I'm up for it," Stiles says.

"I'll drive," Allison offers. "My parents wanted to see me soon, anyway."

"Cool," Erica says.

* * *

**Twenty-First**

"I think Derek is lonely," Erica says quietly to Stiles. She's driving the Jeep back to Beacon Hills to see her parents for her birthday, and Stiles had opted to come with.

"Kind of his thing, isn't it?" he asks, looking over at her.

"Yeah, but, you know…everyone in the pack is dating and he's all alone."

"You want to play matchmaker?" Stiles asks, and he looks a little upset by the idea.

"Not exactly," she hedges, chewing her lip. "I was thinking about, um, polyamory and…"

"Polyamory," he muses. "With us?"

"Only if you want," she says quickly. "And him, too, of course."

He thinks about it for several miles, drumming his fingers on his knee and pursing his lips as he looks out the window. Finally, he says, "Do you think he would want to?"

Erica thinks about the way Derek has watched them since she came home, before they were even together, like he wanted something from them that none of them had been able to identify. She thinks this is what desire looks like on Derek's face, so she says, "I think so."

"So you ask him," Stiles says.

Erica smiles. "Okay."

"I mean we would need boundaries," he continues quickly.

"Duh," she agrees, rolling her eyes. "We'll talk about everything…if he wants to."

"Okay," Stiles says. He sounds nervous but not opposed, which means everything is going according to plan.

She wants, Stiles wants, and she thinks Derek does, too. So when they get to the loft and Derek hugs both of them individually, Erica sits on his couch and says, "Derek, we want you to be our unicorn."

Stiles actually groans.

Derek stares at her blankly. "You want a unicorn?"

She nods without specifying, so Stiles grits out, "She means she wants you to date us."

"If you want," she tacks on with a shrug.

"Date both of you," he says.

"Yes," she says. "I'd say it can be your birthday present for me but I still demanded one from Stiles when we started dating, so unfortunately you aren't off the hook."

"Why?" he asks.

"I like you, Stiles likes you, you like us…" she says, waving a hand. "Plus you look hella lonely every time I see you."

"When she says 'like' she means like like," Stiles clarifies helpfully.

"I figured," Derek answers, still looking surprised. "You both want that?"

"Yep," Erica says lightly, leaning back.

"She wasn't supposed to say it that way," Stiles says. "We wanted to ease you into it." He shakes his head at her and sighs. "I'm supposed to be the tactless one."

"None of us have tact." She pauses, considering. "Well, Boyd, I guess."

Derek sits down next to her and rubs a hand over his face. "Easing would have been nice."

"I'm a big fan of the direct approach," she says. "See something you like and get it."

"But just you," Stiles says quickly. "If we both didn't like you as much as we do, we wouldn't even bother."

"Yeah, it's not about sex," she adds, touching his arm. "You mean a lot to us and we don't like when you're sad."

"This is supposed to make me feel better?" he asks drily.

Erica kisses his shoulder and Stiles settles in on his other side, wrapping an arm around him. "Yes," she whispers.

"Okay," he says.

"We still need to talk about things," Stiles says, but he nuzzles Derek's neck like he's heard enough.

"Yeah," she agrees. "But later." She kisses Derek when he turns to look at her, and yeah…it can wait.

* * *

**Twenty-Second**

Derek wakes her up by playing Taylor Swift's "22" and Stiles punches him in the face. "Still sleeping," he mumbles and wiggles until he's pressed on top of Erica, chest to her back.

She props her head up and smiles at him. "You came," she says.

"Well, somebody's Jeep was in the shop," he says. "I'd never miss your birthday." He kisses her quickly and turns down the music before undressing and slipping into the bed next to them. Stiles moves immediately to sleep on top of both of them and Erica grabs his hand to hold onto between them.

"We have to sleep for another hour," she tells him. "Or Stiles will be very cranky."

"Yeah," Derek agrees. "And we don't want that."

After they drive back to Beacon Hills, Erica takes them home to meet her parents. Her tia winks at her over the red velvet and Boston creme layered cake she's icing and her dad shakes both of their hands firmly, only threatening minor body harm. He knows Derek is the alpha and privately asks him to watch out for Erica, which of course she hears. Her mother doesn't comment on her suspicions of Erica in high school coming true, just saying, "As long as you're happy," when they do the dishes.

The three of them hold hands when they take a walk around the block and later there will be birthday sex, but for now, it's enough that her parents aren't kicking her out of the family and that she's in love with two boys who love her just as much.

"Tonight," she says gravely when they come back to the Camaro. "I'm feeling twenty-two."

Stiles laughs and kisses her until he's breathless while Derek fondly cuddles in behind her.

Yeah. It's not just enough…it's perfect.

* * *

**A/N**: Okay so Pack Love Erica is a reference to Arrested Development when they hang up the banner that says "Family Love Michael" and if you don't watch that show you need to change your life man it's on netflix yo

Wish me a happy birthday right now

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Teen Wolf or Arrested Development or anything else that I mentioned really


End file.
